HLA antigens in donovanosis (granuloma inguinale).

OBJECTIVE

To compare the frequencies of HLA antigens in patients with donovanosis and in controls.

DESIGN

HLA Class I, Class II and DQ antigens were detected in patients with genital ulceration caused by donovanosis and in a control group.

SETTING

City Health STD Clinic, King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa. Participants--Sixty (47 men, 13 women) patients with donovanosis.

RESULTS

HLA B57 was detected in nine of 60 (15%) with donovanosis and 75 of 1478 (5.1%) controls (RR = 3.3 chi 2 = 11.0, p = 0.001, p corrected = 0.026).

CONCLUSIONS

A possible link between donovanosis and HLA B57 could be explained by coexisting alleles or immune response genes in linkage disequilibrium altering disease susceptibility.